Quick releasable parachute harness



Aug. 24, 1948. R. TAUTY QUICK RELEASABLE PARAGHUTE HARNESS 5 SheetsSheet 1 Filed Feb. 10, 1940 aw-rm? 40 REIVE 17101);

Aug. 24, 1948. R. TAUTY QUICK RELEASABLE PARACHUTE HARNESS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 10, 1940 Aug. 24, 1948. R. TAUTY 2,447,324

QUICK RELEASABLE FARACHUTE HARNESS Filed Feb. 10, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 "V I! ////(///AI///////l// la V ,BY QQ Patented Aug. 24, 1948 Q ICK RELEASABLE PARACHUTE. HARNESS nen lauty, .Cllchy, France; vestedlin the Attorney; General of theUnited States Application February 10, 1940', Serial No.,318,'343i In-France Februarylll, 1939.

2 Claims. 1

Thepresent. invention relates to. parachute equipments, and-more espeeiallystothose of the harness type, that is to say, includingJnparticular, a U strap forming; aseat'for the parachutist, with thigh straps The, object of the-presentinvention is-to providea device of this typewhich is better adapted tomeet-zthe-requirements-of practice than those used for the same purpose; up ;tQ-thlS- time, and

in particular,withwhichrelease canbe obtained" in a safer and simpler manner-L According to the; present invention; the harness -as above-set: forth including; central release means-for acting from :a-dis-tance on the thigh straps is. provided. witha belt: and the release distance is arranged in such manner thatthemeans for opening or releasing saidlast mentioned straps include control. means running along the U strap-and partly along the belt, when such a beltexists.

Accordingtostill another feature of the pres,- ent invention,the harness as above mentioned;

with centralreleasing'means, is provided with thigh strapreleasi-ng means adapted to be operated, when so desired, foropening the, thigh straps withoutoperating the central release;v

buckle.

According to still another feature ofthe present invention, thebuckle of a quick release parachute gear is arranged in such manner that release isobtained by rotation of a control memher, the latter being. further adapted, in a harness, to release the thigh. straps.

Other features. of the present invention willresult from. the following detailed description of some specific embodiments thereof.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be hereinafter described," with reference to the accompanying drawings; given: merely'by way of example, and in:-.which:

Fig: 1: is a. diagrammatic.perspective :view of the ;-whole;o f -a-harness-made= according. to the invention and of the release means thereof, also made according-to the; invention;

Fig; 2 is a transverse: sectional view showing separately; ona larger scale-,z.the central' releasebuckle, of the harness; ofzrFig. 1;

Fig.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on;the line.- IV=': IV

of Fig; 5;

Fig. 5- is-a. sectional view on; thenline vav'of Fig. 6 is-a-front view of a. device for securing theythigh. straps, adapted to be controlled from adistanceby means of the above mentioned central buckle;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view on the line VII-V11 of F 6;

Fig. 8 is a sectional view on the line VIII-- VIII of Fig-,6.

I will now describawith reference to the above mentioned figures, a preferred embodiment of a parachuteharness made according to the present invention.

This harness essentially includes, in the usual manner, a strap I, forming a U, the base or lower part of which is adapted to act as seat for the parachutlst.

Tothis U strap, I combine the following elements:

a. On the one hand, a belt 2, suitably con-- nected to said strap, for instance sewn at 3;

b. On the other hand. thigh straps 4, which extend from the rear, where they are fixed to strap l, substantially at the middle part thereof, and are fastened at the front part to said strap l, at 5, bymeans of releasable securing means, such as willbe-hereinafter described; and, prefer ably,

c. Shoulder straps 6--1, the front portion 6 of whichis, for instance, fixed to the belt or the buckle which will now be described, while the rearportion l is fixed to strap l, preferably-at 5, where the thigh straps are secured. I

Being given such a system, or the like, I provide the belt with fastening means arranged in such manner as to permit, when they are operated. to perform the release, of simultaneously opening the belt, the shoulder straps and the thigh straps, said thigh straps being closed through fixation means which are advantageously controlled, from the central fastening means above mentioned; through sheathed cables (of the same kind as those used for controlling the shutter of a-camera) as it will be. hereinafter supposed.

In the embodiment illustrated by the drawing, all these means are made as follows:

I'make use. of a buckle 8-ll, to which are fixed both the beltand the shoulder straps, that is to say one of the shoulder straps and one of the ends of the belt are, for instance, permanently fixed to-the-buckle proper, or a piece 9, rigid therewith (-on the left hand side of the drawing), while the other shoulder strap and the other end of the belt arefixed to a piece If! adapted, on the contrary tobefixedin a releasable manner to the belt.

In orderto permit of securing the two parts together or, onthe contrary, of separating them from each other, thebuckle is provided with a control member, constituted, for instance, by a kind of pivoting cover ll, suitably connected,

on one hand, to the releasable piece l0, and, on

the other hand, to thigh strap controlcables I2 and i 2 slidable in their sheaths I3 I3 In the embodiment described, the buckle constitutes a circular case the bottom of which is shown at 8, with cylindrical walls I 3 (Figs. 2 to 5) said kind of cup-shaped element being covered by a cover i I, with the interposition of a separating partition l5, if necessary. The cover is pivot-v ally mounted, about the axis of the cup-shaped structure and is advantageously provided with lugs IS, in order to permit of handling it more eas- I will now describe the means for enabling cover H either to catch or, on the contrary, to release piece iii-49.

In the embodiment shown, said means consists of a hook 253, fixed to said cover, For instance,

said hook Z8 is carried by a piece 2|, fixed on a support 22, itself driven by the pivot member 23 of the cover. a

This hook 2i coacts with a lug Z4, fitted with a roller 2 5, the whole being carried by piece iii, which is advantageously hollow, so that the hook can penetrate into the interval between the two plates which constitute said piece l9. Piece it rigid with it, an be made in a similar way.

Finally pieces 2 i22 are provided with an elon gated slot 25 in which engages a pin 27, in such manner as to limit the angular displacement of the cover.

I will proceed to describe the means for en abling the cover to operate the cables which control the opening of the thigh straps. Preferably these cables lead to pieces 9 and ill, respectively.

According to an interesting feature of the 'invention, these means are made in such manner as to permit of releasing the thigh straps without having to operate the central buckle.

For this purpose, I provide two driving members 28, 29, combined with the control cables in such manner as to be able to drive said cables in only on direction. 7

One of these pieces, 28, located on the side where the buckle is permanently fixed to the belt, is for instance constituted by a projection of pivot member 23. Through this projection. extends cable I2 provided with a small abutment mass 36. But this piece 28 might also be made similar to the piece 29 which will now be described.

This piece 29 is arranged in such manner that it can cooperate correctly with cable I2 or parts associated therewith, when piece Id is engaged with the buckle.

Piece 29 is, for instance, constituted by a driving radial finger, slidably mounted in the buckle cover and urged outwardly by a spring 3! so as to project across the path of a lug 32 rigid with a s1iding part 33 which serves to drive cable 12 Said. cable extends through said sliding part and is provided, at its end, with an abutment mass illl. The sliding part is, for instance, movable along a circular path inside piece Iii, the lug 32 of said sliding part projecting to the outside of said piece l8 owing to the provision of a slot 34 therein.

Furthermore, driving finger 29 is provided with a bevelled edge 35 adapted to permit, after the engagement of piece it) on the buckle, lug 32 to occupy any position and finger 29 to come,v dur- 4 ing the closing of the buckle (which is produced byarotatio'n of the cover in the directionof arrow 1, shown by Figs. 3 and 4) into contact with said lug and, owing to bevel edge 35, to pass on the other side thereof. In this way the finger can thus drive the lug during the release operaition, which corresponds to a rotation in the direction opposed to arrow 1. It should be noted that,

in this-case also, the drive takes place in only one direction, which permits of manually re- -leasingthe high strap without acting on the central buckle.

This buckle further includes means for locking it in the closed position. Said means includes in the embodiment shown by the drawing, two push pieces 36, adapted to be operated from the outside against the action of springs 36 which, normally, tend to engage projections 31, carried by said push pieces into one or the other of two i series of holes 39, corresponding to the closed and opened positions, respectively, and provided in the wall M of piece 8. In order to pass from one to the other of these positions, itsufiices to push in the two push-pieces and to operate the cover in the direction of arrow 1 (for closing) or in the opposite direction (for releasing).

Concerning, finally, the mounting of the control cables for operating the thigh strap fastening means, I have found that it is advantageous to make use of the following arrangement:

The control cables advantageously pass first along the ends of the belt, then along strap I, so as to lead preferably to a projection 5 to which the thigh strap fixation means are secured. For instance, this projection 5 is constituted by an extension of the shoulder strap 1.

The thigh strap fastening means are made as follows:

They include a male element 40, preferably fixed to the thigh strap and provided with a spindle 4! having a hole 42 formed therein. On the other hand, there is a female element 43, fixed to projection 5, said element including a pin 45 adapted to penetrate into hole 42 once the spindle has been correctly. engaged into the female element. Hole 42 is widened at 46 on the side of the pin so as to facilitate the engagement thereof.

This pin, which is constituted for instance by acylindrical rod suitably guided in piece 43, can be operated, on the one hand, by the correspondingcontrol cable W or I 2 and, on the other hand, preferably manually so as to permit the fastening of the device when the parachutist puts the harness on, and also to permit the release, when so desired, without acting on the central buckle.

For this purpose, an operating member 41 is provided on the outside, being fixed to the pin at 44 and suitably guided at 46.

It should be well understood that any other means than those (spindle and pin) above described might be used within the scope of the invention.

The harness further includes any suitable tightening means for fitting'it to the size of the parachutist. The double-D buckles shown at 49 on Fig. 1 are supposed to cooperate respectively with the two'portions 6 and I of each shoulder strap, such an arrangement being given merely by way of example.

Whatever be the particular arrangement that is chosen, I obtain a system the operation of which results sufiiciently clearly from theabove description for making it unnecessary to enter into further explanations.

This operation can be summed up in the following manner:

When the parachutist puts the harness on, the central buckle being supposed to remain in the release position, the closing of the belt is effected first by means of this buckle, the cover of which is turned in the direction of arrow I after having introduced wedge 19 into the corresponding housing. At the end of this operation, bevel edge 35 having passed on the other side of lug 32, the operation of the two control cables I2 and I 2 is quite free. Therefore all the parachutist has to do is to secure the thigh straps by acting on operating members 41.

If now the parachutist wishes to release the harness, for instance after he has landed, it sufiices to operate said cover in the direction opposed to that of arrow 1 after having brought the locking means thereof out of action. The release of the various parts of the harness is then simultaneous and complete for all of them.

If, on the other hand, at any time, the parachutist, wearing the harness, wishes merely to unfasten the thigh straps, he can always do so by acting on members ll, without touching the central buckle.

The system according to the invention is particularly simple to make, easy to operate and perfectly safe.

In a general manner, while I have, in the above description, disclosed what I deem to be practical and eflicierit embodiments of the present invention, it should be well understood that I do not wish to be limited thereto as there might be changes made in the arrangement, disposition and form of the parts without departing from the principle of the present invention as comprehended within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A parachute harness which comprises, in combination, a sling strap for supporting the wearer in seated position therein, body encircling means and thigh straps on each side fixed to said sling strap for holding said sling strap in proper position on the wearer's body, said body encircling means including a catch at the front of the body,

RENE TAUTY] REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Smith July 17, 1923 Wigley et a1 Feb. 28, 1933 Kuhlemann Feb. 15, 1938 Number FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date France May 2, 1938 Number 

